The military is all set to release hundreds of pages of secret documentation on UFO sightings across New Zealand. The papers will be released during this year itself.

The files to be released include reports of sightings of UFOs from 1979 to 1984, in addition to references to December 1978's Kaikoura sighting.

The documents are being currently held by the Archives New Zealand and they were originally to be made public this month, but the Defense Force is presently in the process of removing personal information from the files in order to efficiently comply with the Privacy Act.

"At the moment we are working on making copies of these files, minus the personal information. Once this work is completed, we are hoping to be able to release a copy of all the UFO files, including some ahead of their release time, within the year", said a Defense Force spokeswoman.

All requests for access to the said files of sightings are currently being turned down as they are under the possession of the Defense Force.